Hassan YussufThe next four years present an opportunity to build the Canada we want, Canadian Labour Congress President Hassan Yussuff told CUPE Convention delegates.

“The work you did and our movement did across the country was absolutely stellar,” he said. “We had to defeat the Stephen Harper government and it was such a pleasure to watch his sorry ass walk off that stage.”

While the outcome of the election may not have been ideal, it did end a decade of rule by a prime minister who used racism and xenophobia as an election tool, who attacked unions and who moved human rights backward a decade.

In the next four years, we must hold Justin Trudeau to his promises to repeal Bill C-377, to begin an inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women and to restore card-check certification. We must convince Trudeau to repeal, not revise Bill C-51, he said, adding that we must prioritize electoral reform so everyone’s voice counts and we don’t end up with huge majority governments representing a minority of Canadians.

He closed by calling on CUPE members to leave Convention united and stronger.

“The enemies of this organization are not in this room,” he said. “When you leave, leave as 600,000-plus united, and tell the employers: You attack one of us, you attack all of us.”